Want to seal juvenile record? It'll cost you

Published 1:57 pm, Wednesday, May 21, 2014

(05-21) 13:56 PDT OAKLAND --

A fee charged by some counties to seal juvenile records should be eliminated to reduce the burden on young people who turn their lives around, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and state Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner said Wednesday.

The fee, which runs from $85 to $210, is financially onerous for teen offenders who have since paid their debt to society, the two said at a news conference outside Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland while flanked by youth advocates.

Assembly Bill 1756, dubbed "Starting Over Strong," would eliminate the record-sealing fee for fee for those who were 18 years or younger at the time of the offense and who have attained rehabilitation by age 26. The bill faces a key legislative hurdle in the Assembly Appropriations Committee this week.

"We want to 'free the fee,' " said Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley. "Who amongst us hasn't made a mistake? Young people make mistakes. They have the right to have their records sealed so that they can go on in life without that albatross around their neck."

In Alameda County, teens who want to seal their records have had to pay $150 since 2010, at which time requests to seal records "dropped precipitously" by 47 percent, Skinner said. Contra Costa, Los Angeles and San Francisco counties have eliminated their fees, she said.

Quan said, "If young people can get this without having to pay the $150 fee, they will increase their opportunities to get jobs in this economy, and the whole city will be safer because of that."

Youths with unsealed criminal records risk having job, housing and driver's license applications denied, and can be kept from joining the military, advocates said.

The Chief Probation Officers of California oppose the assembly bill. The group said that while people should be able to seal their juvenile records, current law already allows for a fee waiver in cases where a financial need can be demonstrated.

"This places the determination of need on local authorities and enables counties to recover a portion of the costs to administer the sealing of records where the person has the ability to pay," the organization said.

It said the bill "creates a new undue financial burden on probation departments who are actively working to serve those we supervise."

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